Chapter Summaries

Muzan and Hizashi tracked the Akatsuki, while Sakumo Hatake led a Five Great Shinobi Villages assault on its underground base. Muzan and Hizashi reached the entrance after the attack began, and Hizashi urged them to scout before joining the fight.

• Muzan left Zabuza and trained demon squads to protect the Land of Waves while he and Hizashi investigated the Akatsuki’s trail.
• Muzan found footprints in a tree and realized Black Zetsu and Obito had likely ambushed and abducted two people.
• Sakumo Hatake stopped the allied ninja from arguing and ordered the Hidden Stone Village to breach the base before Wind Release ninja cleared the tunnel.
• Kurotsuchi led the Hidden Stone ninja in opening a fissure, and the Five Great Shinobi Villages launched their assault on the Akatsuki.
• Muzan and Hizashi arrived outside the tunnel and decided to locate Akatsuki members with the Byakugan before entering.

Muzan and Hizashi infiltrated Akatsuki’s territory as the Shinobi Alliance closed in, then confronted Obito and Black Zetsu. Muzan exposed Obito’s identity as Obito Uchiha, the man who had inherited Madara’s name, leaving Akatsuki’s members stunned.

• Hizashi used his Byakugan to find a safe route past the Shinobi Alliance’s sensory ninja, and Muzan crossed their patrol with Sage Mode.
• Nagato gathered Akatsuki and ordered the members to fight the Alliance instead of retreating, while assigning Obito and Black Zetsu to monitor the enemy.
• Muzan and Hizashi arrived at Akatsuki’s headquarters, where Muzan demanded that Obito and Black Zetsu be released.
• Obito denied knowing what Muzan wanted, but Muzan named him Obito Uchiha and revealed that he had inherited Madara Uchiha’s name.
• Obito’s Mangekyo Sharingan confirmed Muzan’s claim, shocking the Akatsuki members.

Muzan exposed Obito’s plan to use the Akatsuki to revive Madara and forced him to release Raiga Kurosuki and Kamizuru Poison Butterfly by falsely claiming to hold Rin’s remains. After Obito escaped, Muzan offered the Akatsuki two Twelve Kizuki and asked them to help Blood Moon hold back the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth during its next offensive.

• Muzan confronted Obito over his plan to use the Akatsuki to revive Madara Uchiha.
• Muzan claimed Rin’s remains were in his hands, stopping Obito from leaving and compelling him to release Raiga Kurosuki and Kamizuru Poison Butterfly.
• Muzan admitted he had never disturbed Rin’s grave, and Obito escaped after the Akatsuki and Blood Moon moved against him.
• Nagato said the Akatsuki would pursue Obito later and planned to divide and defeat their current enemies with Explosive Tags.
• Muzan agreed to send two Twelve Kizuki to assist the Akatsuki and asked them to help Blood Moon hold back the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth.

Muzan allied with Tendo Pain and helped the Akatsuki trap the Allied Shinobi Forces in collapsing tunnels. As Muzan and the Twelve Kizuki approached the isolated Konoha shinobi, Muzan prepared to smash through a boulder and strike them.

• Muzan and Tendo Pain agreed to cooperate against the Five Great Shinobi Villages and Nations.
• Konan detonated Explosive Tags at the Akatsuki base, forcing Kitsuchi and the Allied Shinobi Forces to flee through collapsing tunnels.
• Kamizuru Poison Butterfly unleashed a massive insect swarm that killed shinobi and split the retreating forces apart.
• Sakumo Hatake found a severed Byakugan spying on his group, while Aburame Qing admitted he could not identify the dangerous insects.
• Muzan, Hizashi, Ranmaru, and Raiga Kurosuki reached a boulder blocking the way to Konoha's people, and Muzan struck it with Monster Strength Fist.

Muzan confronted the Konoha team in Akatsuki’s tunnel and revealed that Hizashi Hyuga had joined him and the Twelve Kizuki. After clashing with his father, Sakumo Hatake, Muzan failed to persuade him to retreat and activated Sage Mode to begin the fight in earnest.

• Muzan and the Twelve Kizuki appeared after an attack collapsed part of the tunnel, and the Hyuga shinobi discovered that their Byakugan could not detect the newcomers’ chakra.
• Hizashi revealed his identity and showed that the Caged Bird mark had been removed, shocking the Hyuga Clan members.
• Sakumo realized Hizashi had helped discover Konoha’s team in the Land of Waves, while Muzan fought Sakumo with the Hatake Sword Technique.
• Muzan asked Sakumo to stop entering Akatsuki and return to the Land of Waves, but Sakumo refused because surrender would endanger Konoha and its allies.
• Muzan activated Sage Mode and ordered the Twelve Kizuki to attack.

Muzan and the Twelve Kizuki trapped Sakumo Hatake and the Allied Shinobi Forces in a cave, where they fought to stop the shinobi from escaping with news of Blood Moon’s presence in the Akatsuki. Muzan broke the Sealing Corps’ techniques and ordered the Twelve Kizuki to attack, leaving the Konoha forces in immediate danger.

• Aburame Qing warned Sakumo Hatake that Blood Moon was in the Akatsuki and urged him to escape as the insects overwhelmed Konoha’s defenses.
• Raiga Kurosuki used Dark Lightning Formation while Muzan blocked the cave’s exit, trapping the Konoha shinobi.
• Sakumo Hatake directed combined ninjutsu through the mist, but Muzan cleared it with Wind Release and killed two shinobi with his Thunder God Sword.
• Two members of the Sealing Corps tried to bind Muzan with the Eight Trigrams Seal and Adamantine Seal while Sakumo fought him.
• Muzan tore apart the seals with his Blood Demon Art and ordered the Twelve Kizuki to take down the Konoha forces.

After the Five Kage Summit's attack failed, Muzan formed an alliance with the Akatsuki and prepared the Land of Waves for war against the Land of Fire. Pakura's forces launched a blitzkrieg against Konoha's camp, leaving Shikaku Nara to organize a defensive line.

• Sakumo Hatake and Konoha's shinobi fought Raiga Kurosuki and struggled against Ranmaru's Blood Demon Art as the tunnel collapsed.
• Konan warned that the failed attack had revealed the Akatsuki and Blood Moon's alliance, and Muzan proposed invading the Land of Fire with the Land of Waves' new weapons.
• Muzan asked the Akatsuki to hold back the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning while he dealt with the Land of Fire.
• Tendo Pain suspended the Akatsuki's Tailed Beast collection and ordered its members to join forces with Blood Moon against the two nations.
• Pakura led the Twelve Kizuki in a surprise attack that retook territory in Mukawa Territory and forced Konoha to retreat.
• Shikaku Nara ordered Konoha's forces to set up a defensive line after witnessing the new weapons' power.

As the Land of Waves’ war against the Land of Fire intensified, Minato assessed Konoha’s setbacks while Danzo weighed Muzan’s offer of the Hokage position. Danzo chose to betray Konoha but altered Muzan’s plan so he could keep a safeguard.

• Muzan’s campaign fueled rebellions, drew refugees to the Land of Waves, and drove food prices higher, while he publicly rejected the nobles who sought to join him.
• Minato reviewed Konoha’s losses after the Twelve Kizuki and defected Jōnin attacked its front-line headquarters, and he considered finding Kakashi a wife.
• Minato planned to slow the Land of Waves’ advance with terrain and trusted Konoha’s younger fighters to help secure its future.
• Danzo received Muzan’s proposal to attack the Land of Fire from within in exchange for becoming Hokage.
• Danzo chose Muzan’s offer but decided to alter the attack direction so he would not trust Muzan completely.

Muzan divided Blood Moon’s forces to strike Konoha’s base and intercept its gathering troops, while Hizashi discovered Root agents hunting a Hyuga Branch House member. Muzan’s group rescued Hyuga Yun, killed the Root agents, and kept their secret march concealed.

• Muzan learned that Danzo had delivered the envelope to the Fourth Hokage and ordered the army split between an attack on Konoha’s base and a strike on its gathered forces.
• Hizashi spotted a Konoha reconnaissance squad and recognized that Root agents were hunting Hyuga Yun, a Branch House member.
• Hyuga Yun, injured and pursued, collapsed in the forest as two fox-masked Root agents moved to kill him.
• Hizashi intervened, and Muzan’s group confronted the Root agents before they could expose Blood Moon’s secret march.
• Muzan’s side killed the two Root agents, leaving Hyuga Yun alive and the Hyuga clan’s internal conflict concealed.

Muzan persuaded Hyuga Yun to join Blood Moon and arranged a false corpse to conceal his survival. Meanwhile, Shikaku realized Konoha had been deceived about the enemy’s rendezvous point and ordered ambushed shinobi to return, but Shanye Song’s attack was already holding Konoha in place.

• Muzan refused to let Hyuga Yun leave, warning that the Hyuga Main House would kill him and offering him a place in a new Konoha without the Caged Bird system.
• Hyuga Yun agreed to serve Muzan, and Muzan arranged a charred corpse resembling him to mislead the Hyuga Main House.
• An Aburame shinobi reported that Shanye Song and Momochi Zabuza were approaching Konoha’s main camp with an elite force.
• Shikaku Nara suspected the frontal assault did not fit Muzan’s strategy and concluded that the rendezvous map had been used to mislead Konoha.
• Shikaku ordered Inoichi Yamanaka to recall the shinobi lying in ambush, realizing they might be the enemy’s true target while Shanye Song kept Konoha occupied.

Pakura unleashed her Blood Demon Art, Inferno of All Creation, and helped Blood Moon destroy a Konoha force while Muzan’s troops sealed off its escape routes. The Land of Waves won a costly victory, but Muzan left a few survivors to spread news of Pakura’s power as the weakened land faced danger from other villages.

• An Inuzuka ninja sensed danger as the Konoha ambush prepared to attack, but Pakura’s flames struck before the group could respond.
• Pakura engulfed the Konoha ninja in her Inferno of All Creation and charged through the steam to finish them off.
• Muzan ordered Hizashi to use the Byakugan to monitor escape routes while the rest of Blood Moon surrounded the Konoha force.
• Most of the Konoha ninja were killed, while the Land of Waves also suffered heavy losses and captured a large stretch of territory.
• Pakura asked Muzan whether they should pursue the few survivors, but he let them escape so they could spread word of her Blood Demon Art.

After Blood Moon’s ambush destroyed Konoha’s front line, Shikaku Nara ordered a retreat and Inoichi Yamanaka carried the news to Minato Namikaze. Muzan prepared to press the Land of Waves’ advantage while guarding against outside intervention, and decided to recruit another member of the Twelve Kizuki.

• Inoichi Yamanaka told Shikaku Nara that Blood Moon’s plan had wiped out Konoha’s shinobi on the front lines, and Shikaku ordered him to report the defeat to Konoha.
• Shikaku Nara rejected thoughts of suicide and resolved to do what he could to protect the remaining shinobi as headquarters pulled back its defensive line.
• Inoichi Yamanaka delivered Shikaku Nara’s letter to Minato Namikaze, who announced Konoha’s crushing defeat and vowed to protect its future.
• Naruto sensed the village’s grief, and Kakashi told him that Konoha had lost the war and many people had died.
• Muzan stopped Pakura from attacking Konoha’s headquarters, ordered an accelerated offensive and preparations against the Land of Water’s allies, and decided to find another Twelve Kizuki member.

Muzan held a brutal trial for one opening among the Twelve Kizuki, and Hiruko entered hoping to gain the power of the Man-Eating Demons. Hiruko revealed two Bloodline Limits and killed every ninja who approached him, leaving the other candidates wary of his strength.

• Kamizuru Poison Butterfly reported that Konoha was abandoning territory, and Muzan ordered his forces to delay their offensive.
• Muzan observed the candidates gathering for the Twelve Kizuki selection and recognized Hiruko among them.
• Muzan announced that only one candidate would survive and receive his power, prompting the ninja to attack one another.
• Hiruko waited as his opponents surrounded him, then used Storm Release: Lightning Cloud to kill one ninja.
• Hiruko used Swift Release and his speed to kill the ninja who approached him, revealing that he possessed two Bloodline Limits.

Muzan watched Hiruko defeat the other survivor of the trial and judged him worthy of receiving the Man-Eating Demon Bloodline. Hiruko accepted Muzan’s blood, and its power began transforming his body and destabilizing his four stolen Bloodline Limits.

• Muzan explained that Hiruko’s Chimera Technique and ambition made him an ideal candidate to become a Man-Eating Demon.
• Hiruko fought another powerful survivor, who used Lightning Release: Earth Walk and challenged Hiruko’s four Bloodline Limits.
• Hiruko unleashed Storm Release Secret Technique: Storm Dragon and emerged as the sole survivor of the trial.
• Muzan congratulated Hiruko and bit his hand with a mouth that appeared in his palm, bestowing the Man-Eating Demon Bloodline.
• Hiruko endured the transformation as the new power made his four Bloodline Limits grow violent.

Hiruko completed his transformation into a Man-Eating Demon, gaining immense power while falling under Muzan’s control. As Muzan celebrated his growing strength, Kazuma told the terrified Fire Daimyo that Konoha and the Fire Temple still had cards to play in the war.

• Hiruko struggled as Muzan’s blood suppressed and fused his absorbed Bloodline Limits, transforming him into a Man-Eating Demon.
• After the transformation, Hiruko tested his Dark Release and realized he could absorb Bloodline Limits without relying on the Chimera Technique, though Muzan still controlled his life and death.
• Muzan promised Hiruko a place among the Twelve Kizuki and urged him to return to Konoha to prove his strength, especially to the Third Hokage.
• The Fire Daimyo raged over the Land of Waves and Blood Moon seizing his territory, then worried that his forces could not stop their advance.
• Kazuma arrived with three young followers and told the daimyo that Konoha had not yet lost and that the Fire Temple had ways to respond, recalling the Nine-Tails Rebellion.

Kazuma persuaded the Fire daimyo to demand that Konoha deploy the Nine-Tails, while Minato Namikaze arranged for Jiraiya to take Naruto to Mount Myoboku for safety. Muzan learned the Land of Water was harassing his merchant ships and prepared defenses as he awaited Haku’s return.

• Kazuma urged the Fire daimyo to order Konoha to send the Nine-Tails against the Land of Waves, hoping to concentrate power under the daimyo.
• Minato Namikaze secretly asked Jiraiya to take Naruto to Mount Myoboku, and Jiraiya agreed to protect him there.
• The Land of Water’s daimyo ordered shinobi and troops to harass Muzan’s merchant ships after receiving a promise of territory from the Land of Fire.
• Pakura told Muzan about the attacks and said she had abandoned nearby islands and organized pirates to harass the enemy.
• Muzan told Pakura to hold the defensive line at a sea trench and said Haku’s developing Blood Demon Art could help stop the Land of Water’s ships.

Muzan sent Hyuga Yun into Konoha to expose an alleged assassination attempt and sow division within the Hyuga Clan. Minato suspected Danzo was behind the attack and summoned him as tensions between Konoha and the Hyuga Clan grew.

• Muzan learned that the Land of Fire's daimyo had tried to involve the Nine-Tails in the war, and he decided to let the daimyo further destabilize Konoha before killing him.
• Muzan abandoned plans for a surprise attack after discovering Konoha's concentrated sensory defenses, then chose Hyuga Yun to create turmoil inside the village.
• Hyuga Yun entered Konoha and claimed that people from the village had hunted him, prompting the Hyuga Clan to investigate and distrust Konoha's ninja.
• Konoha confirmed Hyuga Yun was telling the truth and uncovered the bodies of two attackers whose identities belonged to ninja already recorded as dead.
• Minato suspected Danzo had used Root to target Hyuga Yun, ordered Danzo brought to him, and sought to placate the Hyuga Clan.

Muzan prepared to exploit Konoha’s growing conflict between the Hyuga Main House and Branch House, while Haku returned with a greatly strengthened Blood Demon Art. After Danzo’s accusations led to Branch House members being executed, Muzan ordered an attack on Konoha’s camp to rescue them.

• Haku returned to Muzan after his Blood Demon Art grew powerful enough to freeze the surrounding forest, though he had not yet reached absolute zero.
• Muzan warned Haku that Hiruko was a rival for the Upper Rank position and switched Haku with Pakura on the Land of Water front.
• Hizashi told Muzan that Hyuga Branch House members were being executed in Konoha’s camp, and Muzan ordered an assault to rescue them.
• Muzan’s forces gathered devices designed to block activation of the Caged Bird mark as they advanced on the camp.
• Konoha’s forces halted their purge to meet the attack, while Danzo’s accusations had turned the Branch House into scapegoats and deepened the clan’s turmoil.

Muzan’s forces attacked Konoha’s camp while the Hyuga Branch House members rebelled against their captivity. Muzan offered them protection from the Caged Bird mark, and the battle turned into a fight over whether they would join the Land of Waves.

• Shikaku Nara ordered Konoha Ninja to use the terrain and ambush the attacking Land of Waves army led by the Twelve Kizuki.
• Muzan appeared at the rear of the enemy formation and offered to free the Hyuga Branch House from the Main House’s control.
• Hizashi Hyuga arrived without a Caged Bird mark, and Muzan presented a device meant to protect Branch House members from the mark’s torment.
• Two Hyuga Branch House members pledged loyalty to Muzan and accepted his protection, encouraging others to consider defecting.
• Shikaku Nara’s forces blocked the Hyuga from joining the Land of Waves as Muzan ordered his ninja to rescue them.
• The detained Hyuga Branch House members began resisting Konoha, determined not to remain slaves or die without a fight.

Muzan and the Land of Waves forces overwhelmed Konoha’s camp as the Hyuga Branch Family joined them, forcing Shikaku Nara to order a retreat. Choza Akimichi fought Muzan to buy time, but Muzan pierced him with Black Blood Brambles while Shikaku and Inoichi tried to rescue him.

• Hizashi Hyuga led the Hyuga Branch Family and the remaining battlefield ninjas in joining the Land of Waves forces and fighting against Konoha.
• Shikaku Nara ordered Konoha’s remaining troops to withdraw, and Choza Akimichi joined him and Inoichi Yamanaka in confronting Muzan.
• Muzan broke Choza Akimichi’s Multi-Size Technique with a punch, then expanded into a giant form and sent him flying in their clash.
• Choza Akimichi swallowed the yellow pill to strengthen himself and hold Muzan back, but Muzan trapped him in Black Blood Brambles and pierced his chest before he could take the red pill.
• Inoichi Yamanaka rushed to rescue Choza while Shikaku Nara used Shadow Imitation Jutsu and Shadow Sewing Technique to protect them from Muzan’s attacks.